The department installed Cradlepoint LTE routers on all of its vehicles earlier this month, replacing old USB air cards that often failed to stand up to the rigors of firefighting. Crucially, IT officials can also use the company's cloud-based platform to track where each device is at all times, and check on each router's functionality without ever leaving the station.

"The bottom line is, the Cradlepoints have been awesome," Capt. Dale Rolfson, the department's IT manager, told StateScoop. "With the cloud platform, I can see every single device, and it tells me whether or not they're connected."

Indeed, Rolfson believes the shift has made a huge difference in how firefighters communicate with support personnel, and vice versa. With first responders constantly needing access to all kinds of data, like GPS coordinates or structure plans, Rolfson said it's been vital for his department to start providing them with more consistent connectivity when they're out in the field.

"We're able to push data in areas where you can't even get a cellphone signal," Rolfson said.

Rolfson noted that he's been working on such a transition "for almost five years in total," largely because of the unreliability of the department's method for getting its firetrucks connected.

For years, Rolfson said firefighters depended on "USB modems we connected to all mobile data computers" on board the trucks. But he said the USB connection required to make that system work was often no match for the complexities of such high intensity work.

"You're putting it in a vehicle that's going to shake, rattle and roll as you're going down the road, so the connection would come loose," Rolfson said. "They were easily damaged. Your transmitting and receiving antenna were all in that USB modem, so especially for our trucks that have a lot of steel, that would create a barrier for that signal to get through."

 

Alhaji Adamu Abdullahi, the Director of Fire Service in Adamawa, made this known on Thursday in Yola while inspecting the trucks.

Abdullahi said that the gesture would boost the agency's operations in controlling fire outbreak within Jimeta-Yola Metropolis.

He commended Gov. Jibrilla Bindow of Adamawa for investing in firefighting operations, saying that the gesture would go a long way in preventing loss of valuable properties.

"The procurement of four trucks by the state government will go a long way in boosting firefighting operations within the metropolis.

 

In addition, increased traffic has contributed to reduced response times. The National Fire Protection Association sets a standard of four minutes or less, and 90 percent of Midland Fire Department calls met that standard when the last major study was done in 2007.

Today, the department response time is in the six- to 12-minute range, the chief said.

The 2007 study offered three options, and Coughlin said his recommendation is the option to build a new, fourth fire station in the northeast quadrant of the city and to relocate Fire Station No. 1, which would bring 89 percent of the coverage area within the four-minute response time range.

He envisions the new station would be in the "Waldo corridor." The cost of this option is estimated at $8 million to $10 million for the new station and relocation of Station No. 1, plus the cost of the land and the ongoing cost of operations.

While he believes the fundamentals of the 2007 study remain valid, Coughlin noted that its options "were formulated prior to the growth explosion north of U.S. 10." He pointed out that a study done in the late 1990s also found a need for a new, fourth station in Midland's northeast quadrant.

A new station would have five bays and would include administrative office space and a training center. He noted that the Midland Fire Department has already become something of a magnet for training as budget-strapped departments in Saginaw and Bay City have eliminated such offerings for firefighters from other departments.

The fire chief recommended that, "at a minimum," the city should be scouting out possible sites for a new station.

It was manufactured in 2000 and was purchased from the Salem Fire Department, in Kenosha County. According to Fire Chief Mike Romsos, the tanker will be safer to use than the one it will replace. The old truck is equipped with what used to be a bulk tank on a milk truck. The new vehicle tank is equipped with baffles that won’t let water "slosh around" when the brakes are applied, he said. The truck has a lower center of gravity, making it safer to drive, Romsos said